Broken
by crazyredhead93
Summary: Set in X men:FC universe. The events on the beach turn out just differently enough for Erik to come home with the mutants. Howeve, they soon find out that Erik wasn't Frankenstein's only monster. Erik/Charles friendship
1. Chapter 1

**AU: Because Charles and Erik need to stay friends to please the fan girls. Don't like, don't read. Erik/Charles Friendship, Slight Erik/Raven**

**Summary:The events on the beach turn out just differently enough for Erik to come home with the mutants. However, they soon find out that Erik wasn't Frankenstein's only monster.**

**Disclaimer:I own nothing, just whatever characters I might make and introduce later. And this particular plotline. Everything else belongs to someone with way more imagination than me.**

_"Whoever fights with monsters should see to it that he does not become a monster in the process.  
>And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you."~ Nietzsche <em>

"You're cheating!" Raven exclaimed as Charles once again locked her king in a checkmate. "You're totally cheating!"

"He doesn't need to cheat to beat you," a voice from behind responded. The two looked up to see Erik standing in the doorway, watching with amusement. "You're just rubbish at chess."

Raven blushed and averted her eyes, as she always did now when Erik was in the room. Charles had noticed it more and more since they had returned from Cuba, although he refrained from commenting. His relationship with his sister, and Erik, was still strained. He had come so close to losing them both that he did not want to do or say anything to endanger the peace they had now.

"Erik's right," Charles said, cutting through the awkward silence that had descended in the room. "You are particularly bad at chess. I don't understand why you keep challenging me."

"Because one day I will beat you," Raven answered smugly, crossing her arms across her chest, "And prove that the great Charles Xavier is not perfect."

Erik laughed, "I would like to see that."

Raven looked towards the ground once more, unable to maintain eye contact with Erik. "I…umm…I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight you two." She patted Charles on the shoulder and shot a fleeting smile at Erik before turning towards walking towards the door.

Erik fell into her vacated seat without another glance at the door. "She really is awful at chess," he remarked, looking at the board.

"Erik," Charles cautioned.

"What?" His friend answered theatrically, "It's a schoolgirl crush, nothing more."

"And you encourage it," sighed Charles. "I just don't want to see her get hurt."

Erik sighed, "She's not a child anymore, Charles. She can make her own decisions"

"I'm not saying she can't," Charles answered, "I'm saying she can still get hurt. And I would like very much for that not to happen."

Erik nodded silently, and Charles had to resist scanning his mind to make sure he had gotten through to him. He did not want to ostracize his friend further by invading his privacy so completely. Their friendship was still strained, though neither wanted to admit it. The topic of what had happened in Cuba had not been brought up in the three months since the incident, neither wanting to be the first to broach the subject.

Charles had seen the intense hatred and pain raging through Erik as he killed Shaw; had felt the force of Erik's revenge when he had been linked to Shaw's mind. He had felt the man die, and had been sure that he himself was going to die as well. In that instant he had been sure that he had lost his friend, and though he would not stop fighting until his last breath, he had not known if he could persuade Erik to retain the goodness that Charles saw.

But that kindness Charles had felt in Erik, the light pushing through the darkness, was strong enough to make Erik's resolve falter. He had stopped the missiles, had turned them back on the fleet. He was ready to destroy the people who were attacking him. Then Charles had intervened, throwing himself at Erik in a last ditch attempt to save the humans and his friend. Erik had the upper hand in a physical fight against Charles, who had spent his life hiding behind his mental powers. Moira had joined the fray, distracting Erik momentarily by opening fire on him. It had been a minor annoyance, just enough to break his concentration on the missiles, but not enough to harm him. He had easily deflected the hail of bullets and had advanced on Moira, intent on ending the human. A yell stopped him in his tracks. It wasn't anger or fear, but so much more powerful. A scream of pure pain and betrayal echoed across the beach as one of the deflected bullets found a new target: Charles. Everything had faded away as Erik rushed to his friend's side; forgetting Moira, the missiles, and everyone else on the beach. The sound evoked memories of a little boy with the same heart wrenching yell who had watched his own mother be murdered by a madman. In a few short minutes, Erik had become that madman, injuring a friend and turning an arsenal of weapons on a fleet of humans. The moment he had taken the murderer's helmet, he had become that monster, the same one he had devoted his life to killing.

Carefully he had pulled the bullet from the wound, trying to see the damage. He wanted to explain, but his tongue stuck in his throat, muting him. Instead, he did the only thing he could think of, the only act of repentance available in that instant. Fighting back tears, he pulled the helmet from his head, once again opening his mind to the telepath.

Charles had been unable to block the thoughts that bombarded him. The pain of his injury had cut through the walls he placed to keep thoughts out, leaving his mind open to everything around him. And in that moment he had seen remorse and regret stronger than anything he had ever known. The feelings overwhelmed his hatred and anger, pushing all of the dark thoughts to the background. Maybe Charles had been wrong. Maybe he hadn't completely lost his friend.

Erik still felt rage and hatred coursing through him at times. It was weaker now, but it frightened him. He knew without a doubt that without Charles, those dark feelings would have long ago overtaken him, and he was intensely grateful. And while he saw something in Raven that could one day grow into more than friendship, he knew he could not take the chance of hurting his friend's sister.  
>"It's been a long day," Charles said after a few minutes of silence. "I'm going to turn in."<p>

Erik nodded again, not looking up as Charles left the room. He wondered how long it would remain this tense between them. He blamed himself for so much that had happened in Cub. He knew that Charles had been linked to Shaw when Erik had killed the man, and it had had more of an impact on the telepath than he was letting on. There was something new in the young man's eyes, a haunted look that scared Erik. Charles and the others had come very close to losing what Erik had lost as a child. Shaw had pushed them all to the brink, almost turned them on each other and brought about an animalistic rage in some of them. Had it not been for Charles, they probably would have destroyed each other along with the American and Soviet fleets. Charles was the rock that kept everyone grounded, without him they weren't strong enough to hold their rag-tag bunch of mutants together. Erik knew that he was avoiding the subject of Cuba because he was afraid that any mention of it would drive Erik away, but Erik had already decided that he would not go down that path again. He knew now what he had to lose, and the thought was too painful to bear.

xXx

Charles passed the door to his room, not wanting to resign himself to bed just yet. The night was warm, and he needed the fresh air to clear his head. Living with five mutants was tiresome at times, all of their thoughts bombarding him, trying to break through his barriers. He welcomed it though. It reminded him that they were still together. And if they could stay together, then maybe there was hope. It was a small step, but that teamwork could lead to much more widespread cooperation and maybe even toleration by humans one day.

It was bright outside. The moon was full and the sky was clear, giving plenty of light to see by. Charles walked the path from the doorway to the gardens, breathing in the cool fresh air and allowing it to wash away the thoughts of the day. If he reached out his mind just a little, he could feel Raven, Alex, Sean, Beast, and Erik all inside, four of the five sleeping. But just their presence, not their thoughts. It was the closest he could ever be to alone.  
>The garden was still well kept, a gardener coming out once a week to care for his parent's estate, and the pathway was pristine. It led to a bench directly in the center of the foliage, surrounded by rosebushes and ivy.<p>

Charles sat down, letting the night air clear his mind and relax him. His mind relaxed, all of the barriers he put up to keep out unwanted thoughts coming down. All thoughts of Cuba, Erik, Raven, and Shaw dropped away, leaving a sense of peace. It had taken weeks to master the ability to just be, to let everything else go, but it was worth it. He relished the short moments he could have to himself. He began to nod off, slumping a little as the full exhaustion of the day hit him. He contemplated staying outside, sleeping in the garden, but thought better of it. If Raven or anyone stopped into his room to wake him up and he was not there, it would probably cause mass panic.

Before he could push himself off of the bench, he felt another presence, not unlike Emma Frost's. Unlike Ms. Frost's, however, this one did not block his thoughts. Instead it invaded the mind he had so carelessly left unprotected; overwhelming every part of his head until he was not sure where his mind ended and the other's began.  
><em>Don't fight it, Charles<em>, the mind said, _pushing the thought throughout his mind, it is hopeless. You can't win against me._  
>Charles struggled briefly, but the mind had caught him off guard, and was at least as strong as his. Within moments, he succumbed to the voice. It willed him to sleep, forcing his eyes closed and his mind into unconsciousness.<p>

**A/N: I'm a huge fan of cliffies...just fyi :P Please review so I know whether or not to continue, and I'll write faster :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N- Oops, I just realized I had forgotten Beast in the previous chapter :/ My bad...And apparently I keep calling Emma Frost Emma Snow...If anyone sees any other character mistakes, please let me know  
>Disclaimer: I still own nothing...otherwise I'd be a rich mofo and probably wouldn't be as bored as I am<br>**

Erik was, as always, the first up the next morning. He was out of bed and dressed before the sun had a chance to rise, already jogging to the path surrounding the Xavier mansion. As he jogged, the images of children running through the colossal structure swept past his eyes. Charles had been talking of converting the mansion into a school, a safe haven for mutants everywhere, and Erik could think of no better place, nor a better person to run it. Six people were hardly enough to fill the house, and many of the rooms still felt unnaturally empty. As much as Erik hated the crowds, he felt something missing from the mansion, and couldn't help but feel that more people might fill the hole that had opened in the last few months in the mansion.

An hour of jogging helped to clear his head somewhat, allowed him to shake off the dreams that had haunted him all night. They were always the same, back on the beach in Cuba, each ending with a different outcome: Erik not having enough power to stop the missiles, returning fire on the ships, Shaw surviving. But the most vivid dream, one that had recurred most often, always ended with Charles dead on the beach, his blue eyes wide open and staring in accusation. Every time Erik was reminded of how close he had come to falling off the edge into the blackness that threatened to consume him.

Shaking off the remnants of the dream, Erik jogged back to the house and into the kitchen, where Sean and Alex were sitting at the kitchen table. The two had become fast friends since Cuba, and were rarely seen without each other in the mansion.

"Morning," Sean greeted Erik. Alex nodded hello, his mouth full of cereal.

"You're up early," commented Erik as he grabbed a water from the fridge.

"Professor wants us to train today," Alex responded, finally swallowing the cereal. "Says we shouldn't stop just because Shaw's out of the way."

"He's right. Shaw was just the first threat," Erik said in agreement. "Well, don't keep the good Professor waiting on my account."

The two boys finished off their breakfasts and ran out of the kitchen to find Charles. Erik thought it strange that he hadn't seen his friend yet that morning. He was usually up at the crack of dawn, walking around the mansion and checking on those who were already awake. He shook the thought out of his mind. Charles had to be in the mansion somewhere; he must be setting up for whatever training the students were doing today.  
>xXx<p>

The first thing Charles was aware of was a dull pain in the back of his neck, probably from the position that his head had been hanging. The second was that he was completely alone, and strapped to a chair in an otherwise empty room.

He could sense no other minds around him, a very disconcerting feeling. He was used to at least the hum of minds in the background, if not hearing the thoughts then at least feeling their presence. It was like being blind; he could not tell where he was, nor could he tell if he was truly alone. Bracing himself, Charles carefully opened his eyes. Blinding light pierced his vision and he groaned. The light was harsh and fluorescent, not ideal for someone who had been knocked out. Although knocked out wasn't really an accurate description. There had been another presence in his head, forcing him to sleep. Another telepath had attacked him.

The thought sobered him up immediately. That realization led to several questions which affected not only him, but the ones he cared about. Why had he been abducted? What did the telepath need with another one? If the telepath had attacked him, had he or she attacked the others in the house? How would he communicate with the others from a room that seemed to be blocking all thoughts from entering and presumably leaving? Each questioned opened up the door to new problems, but they needed to be asked. With each question, he could begin to map out a way to find the purpose of captivity.

The first step was to wait for whoever his captors were to show their faces. He couldn't learn anything from the empty room, but he could hopefully glean at least a little from the minds of his captors. And if there was another telepath, maybe he could connect with them

Waiting would be the most painful part, but Charles knew how to be patient, and he knew that overreacting or panicking would do no one any good. So he resigned himself for however long of a wait before his captors returned.  
>xXx<br>"Erik, have you seen Charles?" Erik looked up to see Raven standing in the doorway to his room. As usual, she blushed slightly as they made eye contact, but the worry on her face overwhelmed whatever other feelings she had. "He was supposed to meet Alex and Sean outside half an hour ago, but he never showed. And we can't find him in the house."

"You checked his room?" Erik asked, even though he knew it was a stupid question.

Raven nodded, "We checked everywhere. Alex is outside looking in the gardens, but why would he be out there? This isn't like him."

Erik agreed. Charles took training the younger mutants seriously, and if he had asked them to meet him, he wouldn't miss it without a good reason. "Find Hank and search the grounds outside. I'll go over the mansion again. Meet back in the kitchen in an hour, and if you find him before, have Banshee give a yell."

"What about if you find him?"

"I'll beat some sense into him and meet you in the kitchen in an hour," Erik joked to cover up his worry.

He pushed himself out of his desk chair and walked into the hallway, his mind jumping to all of the awful possibilities available. Charles had been abducted. Charles had just left. Charles was injured somewhere and would die before they could find him. Even the idea of Charles being gone was unthinkable. Erik knew that the goodness he had found in his life was directly linked to meeting his friend, and he did not want to give that up.  
>xXx<br>_The wound in his back was agony, and the pain worsened with every passing second. The edges of his vision blackened, threatening unconsciousness, but he struggled to stay awake. More important than the fact that allowing himself to sink down into the bliss of unawareness probably meant that he would never wake up, he could not allow the moment to slip away from him. He could feel Erik's struggle within his own mind, fighting between his rage and his desire to become a better person. Pushing the pain to the back of his mind, Charles grabbed his friend's arm and smiled, although it may have looked more like a grimace._

_"I forgive you," he thought, sending the thoughts to his friend, "My Friend, I forgive you." It was the most he could give at the time, but it was enough. He felt the goodness and light that he had seen in his friend grow just a fraction more, enough to push through the darkness._

Charles jerked awake, blinking away the threads of memory. Most dreams led to the beach, although not all of them were quite as pleasant. Some nights his head would explode in agony as he remembered dying along with Shaw, the cold metal being driven through his skull. Other nights would bring back the memory of the bullet, buried dangerously close to his spine. The doctors had said he was lucky. A centimeter to the left and he would have been resigned to a wheelchair, probably for the rest of his life.

Pulling himself out of the dream, Charles wondered how much time had passed and how long he'd been asleep. He had waited for what seemed like hours, but no one had come. He didn't remember falling asleep, and had no way to tell how long it had been. He was hungry though. Very hungry. His last meal had been a small dinner the night he had been abducted, and he had no way of knowing how long ago that had been. They were weakening him, offering no sustenance and keeping him bound. Whoever had abducted him meant him harm, that much was certain now. He only hoped that whenever they showed their face, he had enough strength to find out why.

xXx

"Wake up," a voice commanded loudly, rousing Charles from the light sleep he'd fallen into yet again. The lack of food made it harder and harder to stay awake.

He looked up to see an attractive young woman standing in front of him holding a tray of food and a key ring. Her eyes were a steely grey, and glared at him as if daring him to try something.

Charles immediately reached out with his mind, trying to find anything to use to escape the restraints and captors. But his mind hit a wall. It was the same as Emma Frost's, something blocked his mind from entering hers.

"You can stop that," the girl said, setting the tray down and freeing his hands. "You won't get anything from me, that's my mutation. I'm immune to all telepathy and psychic attacks."

"That's remarkable," Charles said, masking his disappointment. He didn't want to seem defeated, even though his optimism had taken another serious blow. This was probably the only one who would be allowed to deal with him if she was immune to telepaths, besides the other telepath, and that would make getting information much more difficult. "And what about the other telepath, the one who abducted me?"

"You'll meet her soon," she answered, her expression not changing. "Now eat. We'd be very put off if you up and died on us."

"And if I refuse?" Charles wanted to test the boundaries of what he was and wasn't allowed. The woman's face gave little away, and since he could not read her mind, he would have to depend on her actions and reactions to understand her.

"Then you don't eat," she responded with no emotion, "And when you finally meet my sister, you'll be an even easier target. You're already weak, I suggest you take the food."

"She's your sister?" Charles asked, reaching carefully for the tray. The girl was right, he needed some sustenance if he wanted to go head to head with another telepath. "That means your mutations are connected in some way. Her telepathy and your resistance." Even held captive, he couldn't help analyzing the genetics of his captors. Raven would tease him incessantly if she ever knew.

"Very good, Professor," she responded condescendingly. "Extra credit."

"Forgive me, I'm a geneticist, all mutations interest me a great deal," Charles tried to ease the tension.

"And I was a second year med student at Columbia University. Let's go through a list of our degrees that don't matter right now," she shot back, clearly not in the mood to make friends.

Charles knew he was out of his depth without his telepathy. He could not reach out to her or calm her down, and did not know enough about her to break through her hostility. Instead, he grabbed the food she had given him and began to eat.

The woman left after that without a backwards glance into the room. Charles was left to his thoughts yet again, and this time, his mind was pulled back to the mansion. He could only assume that they had noticed his absence, but as for a rescue mission...He had no idea who his captors could be, and wondered how Erik and the others could figure it out. Or if they too had been captured.

**A/N Pt 2: I know this was a slow chapter, but sometimes you have to build into the action, which I hope will be plentiful and entertaining :) Also, it may take a little longer for the next chapter to come out seeing as I will not be home the next three days like...at all. But that just gives you more time to leave reviews :P Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. I wish I owned something associated with Xmen, because I'd probably be rich, but I don't.**

"He's not in the house, and he's not outside," Raven said frantically as soon as the four mutants met in the kitchen. "And we found this in the garden." She threw a small notebook onto the table. "It's the notebook he writes everything down in, all of his genetic observations and theories on mutation. He always has it on him, just in case he makes some nerdy discovery." She was on the brink of hysteria.

"Raven, you need to calm down," Erik said, knowing it would have no effect. The notebook had instilled a sense of panic in him as well. Right now, he needed Charles's powers to calm everyone down, because they would get nothing done getting all worked up. But without Charles there, he had to instill calm as best he could. "We know Charles is not here, and we know that he would not have left on his own without telling us. However, us getting worked up is not going to help him."

Alex nodded in agreement. "You're right. But how are we even going to begin trying to find him? We know nothing about who would want to take him or why. None of us are exactly detectives."

"Beast," Erik said, turning to the blue mutant to his left. "Call Moira MacTaggert. If the CIA knows anything about this, we need to know, too. Raven, I know you're upset but you're going to need to focus. We need to find out if the military knows anything about this, and I doubt they'd share the information with us willingly."

Some bitterness crept into his voice at the mention of the military's animosity towards the mutants. Regardless of the fact that mutants had helped to stop a nuclear war, and Erik had not blown up the fleet, the humans had reacted predictably. Registrations and 'containment' had been introduced almost immediately. While still in the hospital, Charles had had to erase the location of the mansion from Agent MacTaggert's mind, and had sent every other suit that came calling on imaginary missions and goose chases.

Raven nodded in agreement, glad to have something to do that could help find Charles. She mentally catalogued all of the military and CIA personnel they had run into in the last year. She needed someone who had enough influence that he or she could walk in and get whatever information they needed, no questions asked. William Stryker- the man who had allegedly been pushing for mutant registration. Stryker asking questions about mutants would not be red flagged.

Beast pushed himself away from the table and walked out of the room. He was adjusting to the advancement of his mutation, but he still felt uncomfortable around people sometimes, even his fellow mutants. He preferred being alone in his lab, using his research to escape from the rest of the world. Walking through the halls, he went over in his head what would need to happen to find the professor. They were working under the assumption that the professor had been kidnapped. That meant they needed motive and suspects, people either with grudges against Charles, or a reason to use his powers. This hardly narrowed down the search parameters, but it was a start. Something to give to Moira, at least.

xXx

Erik stormed out of the kitchen after the others had left, his mind boiling. He was furious at himself for allowing this to happen, and at Charles for not being able to stop it. The man never took precautions, never looked after himself. He had probably gone out to the garden the night before without telling anyone and had allowed himself to be abducted. It was so perfectly Charles.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Erik knew that the rage was just him coping, trying to understand why Charles was gone. It was infuriating to know nothing and to not be able to do anything until Raven or Beast came back with information.

Meanwhile, Erik wanted to do _something _useful. He walked out of the mansion and into the garden, looking around the paths for anything that would give him a clue. There were shoe prints around the bench in the center of the garden, but they had already begun to fade as the light breeze wore at the ground. The bench was where Raven had found the notebook, so it was most likely where Charles had been abducted. That would mean that the abductors would have had to be clos, probably lying in wait. But how had they known that Charles would be outside? They could have waited for hours, and any one of the mutants in the house could have ended up walking outside.

The bushes to the right of the bench looked unkempt, like something, or someone, had been standing in them. Erik knelt down to look below the bushes, and felt something metal hidden in the branches. He reached out his arm and pulled the object towards him. A small, round coin fell into his hand, very much like the coin he had driven through Shaw's head. Exactly like it in fact.

xXx

"He ate," Elizabeth Taylor said, walking into a small anteroom near the cell where Charles was being held. She threw the keyring onto the desk in the corner and glanced at the figure slumped over a chair opposite her. "I said," she emphasized the words by kicking the figure's chair, "He ate."

"I heard you the first time," the figure said as she stood up and stretched.

The figure took a step forward into the light, her features becoming more defined. Her dark hair was a mess, framing her face in an unkempt halo and her grey eyes were more wild than her sister's, but that was where the dissimilarities ended. The two were more genetically linked than Charles had assumed. In looks, they were identical and ,save for their respective powers, genetically they were exactly the same.

Elizabeth bit down on her tongue, fighting the overwhelming urge to snap back. Her sister was severely unhinged, anyone could see that, and though Elizabeth's powers protected her from any psychic attack, there were other ways her sister could retaliate.

"What did he say?" Her sister asked, spitting out the words, like anything the other telepath had uttered would be a personal affront.

"Rambled on about genetics," responded Elizabeth, "And the expected 'Why am I here?' and 'What do you want with me?'"

"I think it's time for me to meet him," she said, her line of thought switching instantly. Elizabeth was used to it. Her sister's mind was irrational and her thoughts were indecipherable to anyone other than herself. It was what made her so dangerous.

xXx

The food had given Charles more energy, and he felt slightly more aware as he surveyed his surroundings yet again. Since he was no longer bound, he could move around the room, although it had taken only a few minutes to determine that there was very little chance of breaking out from inside the room. He had also discovered that there was something in the walls blocking his telepathy. Charles knew that he had the ability to project his mind far enough to at least sense others, but something stopped him before he even breached the walls. The cell was built for a telepath.

After pacing for a while, he once again sat down in the chair, turning his mind in on itself. He needed more information, a way to understand what had brought about his abduction.

He was still going over what little he knew when the door cracked open. Charles saw the woman who had given him food standing in the doorway, peering in on him. And he felt other presences flood in the crack. There were other people in the building. He had been right; something in the cell kept his mind from leaving. The woman almost looked ashamed as she gazed at Charles.

"He's awake and ready," she said over her shoulder. Then, with a glance back at Charles, she stepped aside as another figure entered the room.

They were twins, Charles realized. It made sense, to have complementing powers when their genes were so identical. It was the last thought he had before his skull exploded in pain.

**A/N: Hehe, I'm a whumper, I love whump :P Sorry it took so long to update, I had a million and a half different things to do this week and I suddenly had a burst of inspiration for my non-fanfiction story, so I had to write it XD Also, I'm sorry if this chapter seems choppy, it didn't want to be written at all**


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